I HAVE FINISHED HARROW THE NINTH! It took a minute to get through act five due to life being very life-y but here are the reactions, and there’s a lot of them. Spoilers for the end of the book ofc
“Continue that sentence,” she said, “and I’ll make it to the pain.” Oh so this is princess bride now
Role swap au?? Harrow cav and reverend daughter Gideon?
This isn’t how it happens, Abigail says. Why are we doing the AU thing. It’s fun, but like. Why
I’m imagining a bunch of ghosts in the river getting dragged into Harrow’s increasingly insane AUs and it’s honestly so funny
The fourth house babies!!!
“they’ve got a hotshot new BARI star.” BARISTA. A BARISTA. I-
Oh fuck oh god it’s Gideon
WHAT DO YOU MEAN ABSOLUTELY NOT ABIGAIL. LET MY GIRLS FLIRT OVER COFFEE PLEASE, I AM STARVING FOR SAPPHIC TIME
HEYYYY CH 43 HAS THE GIDEON SKULL
Memory hit Harrowhark Nonagesimus with the inexorable gravity of a satellite sucked from orbit, flinging itself to die on the surface of its bounden planet; the world hit her like a fall. AAAAAA
“If I forget you, let my right hand be forgotten,” her mouth was saying. “Add more also, if aught but death part me and thee.” And, unsteadily: “Griddle.” AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Harrow was too amazed by her body’s expanding capacity for despair. It was as though her feeling doubled even as she looked at it, unfolding, like falling down an endless flight of stairs. She dug her hands into the mattress and she cried for Gideon Nav. Stab me in the fucking chest why don’t you
OH SO SHE IS LEGIT POSSESSED. MAKES SENSE I GUESS
As her—cavalier—might have put it, absolutely butt-fuck nothing happened. Ow ow ow ow ow that hesitation OW
SHES BEEN STABBED?!?? Well that’s ominous
Oh that. That stab looks a lot like Gideon on the fence in my brain
AND THEN ITS GIDEON IN HER BODY AHAHSJDJFJJF
Does that mean the Lyctor process is now back on? Fuck. Shit. Fuck.
She healed immediately, that’s. Not good. That’s Lyctor 😭
you weren’t around to be furious, but if you had been, I would’ve told you not to bother; I planned on making them sorrier than they had ever been in all their fucking life. This is the peak of romance actually
Gideon mourning Harrow, I am in so much pain
I GAVE YOU MY WHOLE LIFE AND YOU DIDNT EVEN WANT IT
Gideon babe that is NOT THE REASON SHE- AGHHH
SHES PROUD BECAUSE OF THE CALLOUSES AGHH
But some ancient engine had revved to life for me in a way it never had done for you, probably because I am a good girl and you are an evil nun, and it tore through us almost simultaneously. I need them to bicker instead of this one sided monologue. For mental health
“Come back. I hate this. Eat me, and let’s go full Lyctor. I didn’t fall on a fence for this, Nonagesimus.” I’m going to start eating drywall
“Whenever you’re ready,” I said. “Don’t worry, honey. I’ll keep the home fires burning.” I AM SICK I AM ILL I AM PASSING AWAY
Harrowhark had thought from the start the woman showed signs of suppurating ego, but she had never convinced Gideon to see past the appealing eyes and softly clinging dresses. Harrow really was sitting there like. Nav stop being such a hopeless lesbian and use your eyessss
HARROW ASKED CRUX TO PUT ORTUS ON THE SHIP
SHE WANTED GIDEON ALL ALONG AHAJSJDJFKFJFKFKFK
“She died because I let her! You don’t understand!” HARROW JUST STAB ME ITLL HURT LESS
Gideon fighting for their lives: whoops, there goes a thumb. I sincerely apologize. My bad. Please do some pull ups.
THESE MOTHERFUCKERS HAD A HUNGER THAT ONLY THUMBS COULD SATISFY??? Oh that’s a meme I haven’t heard in a LONG time. Llamas with hats returns
You didn’t have your original thumb and I’d touched your intestines, which is usually what, fourth date, but you were fine. Gideon somehow flirting through narration is insane work
Mercy what the FUCK are you talking about. Gideon has “her” eyes??? Who showed you Gideon’s corpse???
“Lipochrome. Recessive.” FUCK THATS WHAT CYTHEREA SAID TOO
I walked away and ate a sandwich and now I think I understand. Mercymorn is with BOE? So much else going on that I totally forgot there’s a traitor in our midst. The rest I’m still lost on
W a i t. Ninth house operation. Being chased by Gideon. Is she talking about Gideon’s fuckin mom
Me 🤝 Mercymorn: What the FUCK is going on
Bro so much of Gideon’s narration when she’s controlling the body is “whoops, sorry Harrow. In my defense-“
Oh crazy, Ianthe FAKED NOT SEEING THE BODY??? That’s so fucked up. Gaslight gatekeeper girlboss is her motto fr fr
Gideon is so violently protective of Harrow and I am going to pass away. GET HER ASSSSSSS
Crazy that I’m more behind an Ianthe/Gideon ship than an Ianthe/Harrow. ofc not seriously because my griddlehark heart but like. I can see it
Gideon: stop being so short, Ianthe should NOT be taller than us
YOU KNOW IT WAS KILLING ME TWICE THAT YOU WEREN’T THERE, RIGHT?
I COULDNT EVEN. HEAR. YOUR. DAMN. VOICE.
One flesh one end I’m going to crash out
Fuck okay Gideon is also crashing out because Harrow didn’t Eat Her
Wow Ianthe has so completely misunderstood the purpose of that surgery that it’s kind of hilarious
It’s sad because Gideon I think is seeing it the same way??? But still. Wildly off base.
If you are somehow haunting or possessing Harrow, please stop so she can be happy with her cav.
“Always your sword, my umbral sovereign” just kill me honestly
YOU HATING ME ALWAYS MEANT MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THIS HOT AND STUPID UNIVERSE LOVING ME
AT LEAST I’D HAD YOUR FULL ATTENTION
I’m walking into the ocean
Griddlehark wedding on a revived Earth on the beach/in the ocean so they can be in the salt water-
“I was already the worst thing that happened to her” baby nooo that’s not it at allll fuck
Gideon will pause the narrative for three things
- swearing undying devotion to Harrow
- dunking on Harrow’s lack of muscle
DONT THINK ABOUT HER KIDNEYS
Harrow watching the fight and thinking “if Gideon had been there” and it’s so detailed and specific. They’re obsessed with each other I fear
The red hair and the last note that Harrow finds in the dream world. Is the sleeper Gideon’s fucking MOM
it would explain why there was a link to Gideon’s sword
Ortus please add gay Nonius/G1deon slash fic in your writing
“Chickenshits don’t get beer” Dyas the woman that you are
Necromancers do NOT deserve their cavs
Harrow thinking about Gideon is always so!!!! God they really needed to cut her memories out or we would have died from the yearning
She could let herself go, or she could go back to her body, and let her go oh fuck I know what she’s picking
Magnus confirmed to be a massive simp with that dance card comment
Is the necromancy book actually about grief bc istfg if we go through this whole book and she just absorbs Gideon
Abigail is the mom Harrow needed
The perspective hops in this book are brutal. Dulcie what do you have to say. Fuck I want to know what’s up with Gideon but also I need to know what’s up with Harrow. Fuck you and your cliffhangers aghhhhh
I’m going to bed with less than forty pages left. I’m being GOOD. I’m SLEEPING.
You’re sleeping. Theres thirty minutes to the emperor’s murder and you’re sleeping.
(Continuing on!) THE SLEEPER IS “AWAKE” BECAUSE THATS HER NAME
“Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity” fascinating stuff. Much to dissect here. What the fuck
AUGUSTINE *AND* MERCY WERE TRAITORS??? JOD FUCKED UP SO BAD HE ALIENATED BOTH OF THEM *AND* CYTHEREA?
THEY WERE GOING TO BREAK INTO THE TOMB?!?!
But then why have a baby with you
Wait. Simmering. Cooking. Contemplating.
Gideon must have been needed to open the tomb somehow. Jod was pretty firm that only he can open the tomb though because it’s his blood so like. But harrow got in. Baby sacrifice can get around the ward??? That feels wrong. He seemed sure that it wouldn’t matter. Only thing I can think of that would make sense is if Gideon is Jod’s kid, but like. Ain’t no way Wake and Jod fucked
Gideon is Wake and Jod’s kid in the most fucked up way possible apparently
THE BOMB??? This is insane. She’s insane. This is so fucked
The woman I was pretty sure was actually my mother—wearing the body of a woman I’d had a crush on, who in turn had been wearing the identity of a woman she’d murdered, until I fell on a spike so that my boss could kill her—craned her head around in her bonds. What is this book.
G1DEON THOUGHT IT WAS HIS??? ALL OF THE LYCTORS WERE FUCKING AROUND WITH WAKE IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
“Hi, Not Fucking Dead,” he said. “I’m Dad.”Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. Jump out the airlock. Shut the fuck up. Shut!! The fuck!! Up!!!
You clawed my face so bad that my blood ran down your hands. THIS. THIS IS IT ISNT IT. BLOOD UNDER THE NAILS. THATS HOW HARROW OPENED THE TOMB.
(That dirt under your nails Caitvi line becomes more relevant by the second)
It’s wild that people act like Gideon is the dumb meathead and Harrow is the deep poetic one because where I’m standing Gideon is the one who spontaneously breaks into borderline poetry in her narration
AL IS ALECTO! I RECOGNIZE THAT NAME! THATS THE BOOK WE’RE ALL WAITING FOR!
It’s wild that this is such a dramatic conversation and they’ll. Pause to offer cigarettes and apologize for raising their voices. What the fuck
I don’t have much sympathy for the Lyctors because like. No one forced them to kill their cavs! They very much could have Not Done That! Like yeah I’m pissed that he kept info from them that might have avoided that, but it’s not like that’s the only thing that could have stopped them >:(
Oh okay adding Mercy and Augustine to the list of duos with hatred and trust intermingled so deeply that it’s become a new kind of devotion
Holy shit again. Bye Mercy.
JOD WAS THE ONE HAVING G1DEON ATTACK HARROW???? Oh youuuuu motherfucker
“Swear me your loyalty :)” << man who has admitted to lies leading to unnecessary murder, who has killed a friend right in front of you, who has no intention of changing course
Gee I wonder what Augustine will say
JAIL FOR MOTHER. Gideon is Miette confirmed.
Ianthe saving the emperor but not Augustine was somehow both exactly what I expected and not at all on my bingo card. I guess she’s just had a pretty visceral demonstration of what happens to people who turn on him, so I see where her brain is at
Okay im loving Dulcie’s dedication to the whole ugly truth juxtaposed with Jod’s commitment to denying and lying to everyone until the option is ripped away from him
Harrow flashing back to the pool as she’s drowning, I cANT
Okay is Harrow now a revenant? Haunting the tomb, the sword, and the magazine? Like Palamedes?
Who is Camilla looking after, because the exercise and the sword sound like Gideon but. No memories. And maybe on a planet we haven’t seen yet??? Idk. Confused. Curious.
So there’s Harrow finished! I’ve been told I need to read something in the back of the book about the BOE folks, but first. Tumblr post.
Sorry this one is so long. Let me know if I should add a read more if folks hate scrolling past it. Thanks to pastels for letting me scream in her DMs, and to folks who have sent me non-spoiler posts and art! Hoping to start Nona soon :)
Tag list: @pastelsandpining @sycadadrawsstuff @scoundrelwithboba @turtletotem @g1ngan1nja
